Fake buyer change shipping address scam

[andis_computers]

So I had a wild experience very recently on eBay and I'm looking for advice. I recently sold a laptop on a buy it now listing, immediately after the item sold I received a message through the listing from what I thought was the buyer stating they had just bought the laptop and wanted the address changed as they were on vacation and didn't want it delivered to their PayPal address. This should have been a red flag but I thought they were being honest and I changed the label and sent it off. Fast forward to today and the buyer opened a not received case and messaged me and said they got the email the laptop had been delivered but it wasn't even in the correct state, I went to pull up the message they had sent me to change the address and that's when I realized someone had made a throw away account and waited until the item sold to send that message and make it seem like they had bought it so I would ship it to them. Has anyone else ever seen this or dealt with a similar situation? Is there anything else I can do to maybe help my situation? Thanks

tldr: I sold an item on eBay, a fake account contacted me to change the shipping address, and now the item is with the fake account and I'm out the money and my buyer is without their purchase.

[kensgiftshop · Accepted solution]

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@andis_computers wrote:

 Has anyone else ever seen this or dealt with a similar situation? Is there anything else I can do to maybe help my situation? Thanks

tldr: I sold an item on eBay, a fake account contacted me to change the shipping address, and now the item is with the fake account and I'm out the money and my buyer is without their purchase.

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Yes, it happens all the time.

Since you changed the address, all you can do is refund the original buyer.

[no1of2]

This happened to me recently when I sold an Iphone. As soon as the phone was sold I received a message that their mom was sick and they had to leave the city immediately on emergency. My red flag was that they sent a screenshot of the message & new address. Per Ebay, there are no guarantees on delivery, as a seller, if YOU change the shipping address from the one Ebay has for the buyer on file. So I declined the change of address and notified Ebay. The very next morning I got ANOTHER email, from another scammer, to send to ANOTHER address. This time I told them "Absolutely!! You're so honest!!! NOT!!!"....lol. Again I alerted Ebay. The email addresses did not even match my buyers email address. 

P.S. I googled the scammer addresses and there's a lot on the internet alerting people not to send to these addresses.

[catholictrust2013]

I just got the same problem I sold  the Chanel Perfume! just a moment Fate account send me different address and said ship quickly foe his girl friend , with Address :

2213 Olgerown rd unit B 

P -PON 68949 

Newalk , DE 19711 

phone # 302-286-7673

But I so confused,why’s I texted messages &  all the pictures and shipping label to my Buyer before   I going to the USPS  I heard nothing from him “ it’s right Address or not ? “ 

And after 4 days he text to me and said  why’s you ship wrong address? 

How can I do ? It’s scam ? Thanks for sharing my problem ! Good luck everyone 

[erik2510]

This must be the new SCAM,  Someone just tried to have me change a shipping address on a IPad.  

They were using a address down the road:

Tamuna Skhirtladze

2860 Ogletown Rd1-4

KW 8763

Newark DE 19713

I called the building owner and gave them a heads up.

Thanks for the information 

[pickermall]

Always... Always... ALWAYS ship to the confirmed Ebay address... even if they say they moved and never updated it... if a buyer tells me they are on vacation, I will reply that I can wait until sending the item (damaging my rating) or hopefully they have a vacation hold on their mail.

If they moved,  I tell them that the item hopefully can be forwarded with their forwarding service.

[kh-ornesh]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies.  Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thanks for understanding!